a blog where regular people share about ​finding holy ground in everyday life

​This month our contributors are sharing their favorite Bible verses.

One day I was reading my Bible, and I came across a verse that sounded very familiar:

Be still, and know that I am God.-Psalm 46:10

Not familiar like, oh, I have read this passage before, but familiar like I’ve heard it outside church and its community. And then I realized that I recognized it from one of my favorite songs, “Be Still” by The Fray. After that, the verse really stuck with me.

I like the verse because it gets to the point: to be still for a moment and know that God is with you. I found this verse at a point in my life when everything was chaotic and felt like it was all out of place. But with this verse, I felt like the world around me could stop for a second and I could just relax (which is all I wanted to do with my busy school schedule), knowing that God had my back.

When I started to write this blog, I researched the song because I was curious to see what the meaning of the song was. For most Christian music, the meaning of the song is typically clear, but since this was a secular song, I wanted to figure how to connect it. It was written as a lullaby for the lead vocalist’s younger brother when he couldn’t go to sleep at night. He said that when he was writing it, “it felt like [he] downloaded it from somewhere” and that the “lyrics and melody just fell into place” (Westword).

One of the many things I love about music is that it can be comprehended by different people and they can get two very different things from it. And I believe that all music, in some way, even secular, could be understood to be about God or Jesus. As for this song, I think it could be perceived as a song that God could sing to his children, like in the psalm.

“Love your neighbor as yourself” is repeated many times in the Bible, in both the Old and New Testament. The Bible also says how important it is to love other people. So if you are supposed to love others and love others as yourself, by default you should love yourself.

Loving yourself is a hard topic to talk about, especially for me, a teenage girl. The world constantly tells teenage girls how we should look and act and dress, who we should talk to, etc., but when we don’t meet up to these standards, we start to feel low quality. We are so consumed with what the world thinks that we don’t even stop to consider what God thinks.

We are part of God’s creation, and He said that all creation is good. So why can’t we think that for and about ourselves? God loved us enough to send His perfect son to die for us and our sins, so shouldn’t that be enough validation for us to love ourselves? If God can do it, we should be able to do it as well. In Ephesians 5, Paul wrote that we shouldn’t hate our bodies but take care of them, like Jesus does with the church. John also said that we love because God loved us first, so we shouldn’t take God’s love for granted.

There is a fine line, though, between loving yourself well, like how God loves you, and being conceited and prideful. Everything we do is supposed to be for glorifying God and showing His light, but sometimes we aren't doing it for that reason. In 2 Timothy, it states specifically that the lovers of themselves will have terrible times in their last days, and in Proverbs it says that when you’re arrogant, you are leading a life towards destruction.

Sometimes with teenagers if they aren’t hating themselves, they are doing the opposite and are obsessed with everything they do: their clothes, their friends, their followers on social media - all of which are worldly things that don’t have any real value.

They aren't cherishing the gifts God gave them in the way He intended. He wants us to love ourselves and use our gifts in the way that is most extolling to him and most beneficial to the people of the world. But we can't do that by hating ourselves. Teenagers often get caught up inside themselves thinking they are humble saying they aren't worth anything, when really that way of thinking is misguided. God loves them, so why is it so hard to love them too? The all-powerful maker of the universe loves us, yet we are so inside our minds that we don't get how great a gift that is. But once we do, we have to hold that near our heart to be able to really make a change and bring others towards Jesus.

Something I think is really important is loving all people. Even if they are really annoying and drive you crazy. You don't have to want to always hang out with someone to want to love them.

Though I think this is important, many other people don't feel the same way. They say we shouldn't love people who don't believe in God. We should pray for them but not love them. Well, my question is: What about the people who never learned about God or the people who have never had anyone to love them? Because if Jesus loved them, shouldn't we? Don't get me wrong, I think praying for these people is good, but I don’t think that is enough. Why shouldn't we love them?

Jesus himself taught us to “love your neighbor as yourself.” In fact, He said that “there is NO commandment greater” than this one (Mark 12:31, emphasis added). So people who aren't Christians or who sin all the time aren’t our neighbor? Because I think they are. And it is not our place to judge others for what they did wrong; we should love them instead. Jesus loved everyone. He is our main example to follow. Jesus loved the people that no one else did. He sat and ate with the prostitutes and tax collectors, who were literally the most hated people in town.

In 1 Peter, it says that our love has to be “unfailing” (1 Peter 4:8), or constant, for other people so that sin isn't an obstacle to seeing the best in them. I think if you want to see the best in people that means you must love them. Also, in 1 Corinthians chapter 13, Paul told the people that to be righteous, which means morally right, they had to have three things:

Faith - putting all your trust in God and His Word

Hope - to be the best person you can be to achieve ultimate salvation

Love - unselfish love, like the way God loves us

​But Paul specifically states that the most important one is love. Earlier in chapter 13, he goes into major detail on what love is and how one could achieve it (1 Corinthians 13:3-8; also mentioned in Romans 12:9-13).

If loving people wasn't so important, why would it be mentioned so many times in the Bible? So if this is what love demands of us, how are you living this out?

​Resolutions. Some people start the new year with them, but a lot of people think they are ridiculous. This is because most of of their resolutions are hopeful and they never really follow through with them - like buying a gym membership in January but then never going again. Though they start with good intentions, their resolutions are often never completed.

Contradictory to what I said, this year there are some things that I hope I can follow through with and complete. And I'm not just saying I am going to finish it, but actually do it. Also many people start off and then feel like they have to finish, but they should finish because they want to. If you are devoted enough, you can accomplish and reach your goal, even if it’s a silly New Years resolution.

This year I really want to read my bible everyday. If I start my day off with 10-20 minutes of quiet time, I feel that my day would be better than those days without this time. Earlier in the fall semester I tried this, but I got caught up in school, studying and social things. Also, I was progressively getting more and more tired.

But recently I have discovered that praying and spending even just a little bit of time with God in the morning before I start my day or in the evening at the end of my day will make my day better or turn it around. I’ve found that when you read the Bible, you can become more insightful on your outlook on life. Usually when I read my Bible it can help me with something I’m struggling with.

​I know that this is will take some discipline because even if it’s something you really want for yourself, it’s easy to slip up and forget about it. I have to be able to create a new habit and hope that I won’t fail before I even start. It reminds me of this verse:

Pray, and keep praying. Be alert and thankful when you pray. Pray that God would open doors and windows and minds and eyes and hearts for the word so we can go on telling the mystery of the Anointed.-Colossians 4:2-3

The first part of this verse rings true because not only does it say “pray”, but it says “keep praying." It’s not a one time thing, it’s continuous, and you have to be persistent, especially with your new resolutions.

​So this year I going to attempt to just carve out a little more time because it's worth it and usually it can calm me down from my school work. I imagine that if i read my Bible everyday, I’ll grow, learn and be closer to God.

​What about you? Is there anything that you can pick up that can make a difference in your life?

Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.​-1 Thessalonians 5:18

While trying to write this post, I tried to find something to inspire me. I turned to my Bible and opened it to 1 Thessalonians 5:18. Inside I saw I had put a bus pass there. But this isn’t any ordinary bus pass: it has a special place in my heart.​

During the summer, I got an awesome opportunity to go to this 2-week almost-seminary-type camp, where I got to live in an intentional Christian community and learn about my faith in new ways. While I was there I got to experience really cool mission trips, which really impacted my faith-journey. The last one I went on was one of my favorites.

We started off by talking about all the people that are under the poverty line in America; even though they get benefits from the government, it still isn’t enough for them on a day-to-day basis, especially when the families have children under 5. They get a set amount of money that is supposed to help them a lot, but sometimes, life just happens.

Then we started our activity. We - 8 kids and 2 adults - were split up into groups pretending to be a family of 4 with 2 children under the age of 5. We were given the task of getting groceries for “our family.” We were expected to spend 30% of our SNAP benefits (what the government provides us), which amounted to around $130. But since life happens, we first had to spend $50 of it for an urgent care bill because one of our kids broke their arm on the playground, leaving only $80 to spend on food.

Next we were given a map and a bus ticket and were told that we had to go to an HEB. Also, as a roadblock, our adults could not help us; in fact they were pretending to be our kids under the age of 5! None of us knew where any bus stops were or even what they looked like. On top of that, we had to make sure our “kids” didn’t run off and get lost.​Eventually, after walking around for almost 20 minutes, we found the right stop and got on the bus. I didn’t even know how to put my ticket in the machine because there were so many different holes and buttons that the bus driver just had to do it for me. Once we were on the bus, we had to figure out when to get off. We also decided the bus ride would be a good time to discuss our budget and what we had to buy.

It was hard at first because no one had really budgeted before and we didn’t have a clue what anything costs. We had a variety of items on our list and hoped for the best. While we were on the bus, one of the adults pulled out a piece of paper with more roadblocks that we had to deal with in order to do the challenge correctly: we had to buy dog food; one of our kids’ birthday was that week, so we had to buy a cake of some sort; and finally our other child broke their flip flops, so we had to pay $7 to buy a new pair. We had to factor all of those things in when we went into the store.

By the time we got to the HEB, we were almost out of time. A lot of us argued about what would be the best to buy, and we were so crunched for time that we were all stressed out. We had less than 20 items, were almost at $65, and barely had everything we needed for the week. If it had been real life, we would have failed.​On our way back to the bus stop, we realized that if this was real we would have had to carry everything with us back onto the bus - maybe even carry a child - so we couldn’t have gotten everything on our list anyway because it is not like your two kids under 5 years old can help you carry much.

That experience was eye-opening and made me feel really grateful for everything I have. It made me thankful that I have a car so I don’t have to take the bus to get places. It made me thankful that my parents are able to provide for our family so we don’t have to worry about having enough groceries for that week. Also, it made me feel that I take way too much for granted and that I should be able to appreciate what I have and be thankful for what my family provides me with.

Looking back on my sophomore year as a junior, I now realize that I was so stressed out. All. The. Time.

I had all my school work, my homework, 25 pages of textbook reading every night, labs, choir music, etc. On top of that, everyone would ask me where I wanted to go to college, what I wanted to major in, and what I wanted to do with my life after college, when I had no clue myself. So I would just stand there with a smile on my face and politely tell them that I still wasn't sure. It’s stressful not knowing what you want to do for the next 50 years of your life at 16!

I didn't know it at the time, but all I did with my life was school. I went to church youth group maybe a total of 10 times the whole school year. I never went to parties or really hung out with my friends. I put school before my relationships with my friends, my relationships with my family, and even my relationship with Christ. A higher GPA was more important to me than going to youth group. I would rather be comfortable and do my daily little routine than take the extra time to focus on my Bible verse of the day. Deep in the middle of the summer I was at a church camp. We were singing in worship, so studying and doing school work was the LAST thing on my mind. I was just singing along with the words on the screen when “Jesus is Better” by Austin Stone came on and this verse came up:

than any comfort / JESUS is better / make my heart believe

I don’t even know what happened then. A wave of relief or maybe like compassion - I don’t know what it was - came over me. I just felt changed. I broke down into sobbing tears because that lyric really spoke to me. I realized I had put my own comfort before my association with Jesus and that the singer was right: Jesus IS better.

Better than getting an A on a test that you studied so hard for. Better than being valedictorian in your class. Better than getting into the college of your dreams. He is better.

It just took me a while to realize that He has a plan for me and that I have to put my trust in Him. I know that everything happens to people for a reason because that’s just a small part of his plan for them.

“So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring enough worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today” (Matthew 6:34//NRSV)